Sleepless Nights
by BlindCodex
Summary: Pyrrha has trouble sleeping and turns to a nearby source for rest. Arkos, mildly suggestive, but may become more so, as the story unfolds.


Author's note: Just an idea that popped into my head while lying sleepless in bed. Please review and critique, I'm still working out the kinks in my pacing and writing in general.

It was 2 AM, and Pyrrha had not fallen asleep. She had been tossing and turning every night for the past few weeks, unable to find the elusive rest that everyone else found so easily.

She was tired of dealing with the fans, the autographs, the pictures; everything that comes with being a celebrity. It was exhausting to be the "Invincible Girl". The happy and cheerful facade she put on for those fans got a little heavier each day. She had hoped she could avoid most of the fame by leaving Mistral, but inevitably people had heard of her in Vale as well. She didn't know how to talk about the stress it caused her, so she bottled it inside and kept the cheerful mask on.

Pyrrha sighed inwardly. Turning again, she looked at the rest of her team, sleeping calmly and smiled. Her team treated her like a normal person, like a friend. Team RWBY did too, though Weiss was a little manipulative when they first met. She felt like she had never had real friends until she came to Beacon and met Ren, Nora, and…Jaune.

Her thoughts lingered on Jaune. One of the first people she noticed in the main hall. Just a goofy blond boy who looked a little uncomfortable. Later he tried to talk to her like she was a normal pretty girl, with no idea who she was until Weiss ruined that. He was strangely charming, but no one else who noticed would have found it charming. Awkward probably came to mind.

She was lucky to have seen him flying through the air, saving his life and, in a sense, making her's whole. He somehow cut through her polite mask and let her be herself. Jaune probably doesn't see it this way, but he made it possible for her to have friends like her team and RWBY. Though Weiss was still difficult to get along with at times. It didn't help that Jaune had some sort of obsession with trying to date her. Pyrrha didn't understand. Weiss treats him so poorly, but he keeps trying anyways.__It doesn't look like he enjoys the rejection, but what does Weiss have that draws him in? Why does the constant abuse not deter him. Why doesn't he look at someone el–.__

Pyrrha realized she'd been staring longingly at Jaune for the past five minutes while thoughts ran through her mind.__Maybe I could sleep if I could just…__Pyrrha carefully got out of her bed, trying to make as little noise as possible. With soft footfalls, she made her way to Jaune's bed, not fully sure of what she was planning to do. Pyrrha paused at the side of his bed, looking down at the peaceful face she admired so much. While she hovered there uncertainly, Jaune muttered slightly in his sleep. Pyrrha froze. Jaune slowly shifted, and suddenly Pyrrha realized there was now room for another person to sleep next to him. Wondering about the morality of it, but too caught up to stop herself, she lifted up the sheets and with agonizing patience, managed to get into his bed without him noticing. She carefully scooted up against him, so that he was spooning her. Unconsciously, Jaune put his arm around her, and Pyrrha immediately felt at peace, dozing off into a restful sleep.

The next morning, Pyrrha awoke, feeling much more rested than she could remember. She took a deep breath, and froze as she realized the position she put herself into earlier that morning. She noticed Jaune's arm around her, and while she felt a thrill at their close contact, she didn't want to have to explain this. Especially to Jaune. She rolled the sheets off of her, and gingerly grabbed his wrist with her thumb and finger, lifting his arm off of her. She set it gently on his side, and slowly rolled onto her stomach, and letting her leg off the edge of the bed. She started to put pressure on that leg, but the floor squeaked. Jaune stirred, and Pyrrha went dead still, but her heart took off like a rabbit's. He went still again after a few moments, and Pyrrha's heart slowed to human levels after a minute of terror. She moved her foot, testing the floor with some minor squeaks until she found a spot that wouldn't. She slipped completely off the bed, and stood up carefully, trying to avoid any excessive noise. She gently replaced the sheets on Jaune and tiptoed back to her bed, to wait for her alarm to give her an excuse to get up.

When alarms went off, the rest of JNPR woke up to see Pyrrha already dressed and humming quietly to herself as she started the coffeemaker.

"Hey Pyrrha, why so cheerful this morning?" Jaune asked.

Pyrrha turned, her smile almost imperceptibly widening. "Oh, I just had a good night's rest for once. Coffee?" She asked while holding out a mug for Jaune.

"Oh, thanks!" Jaune exclaimed as he took the warm mug.

Pyrrha passed out two more mugs to Ren and Nora. "Hey, how come my mug is only half full?!" Nora complained.

"Because we all remember what happened last time you had a full one," Ren said. Jaune and Pyrrha winced at the memory of trying to contain a super caffeinated Nora. You could still see where the walls were filled in and the paint was newer.

"Aww…" Nora pouted, but still drank her coffee.

After the rest of the team got dressed, with Pyrrha staring at an oblivious Jaune a bit more than usual, they headed down to breakfast together.

The rest of Pyrrha's day went wonderfully. Classes were good, she could focus again, and she got to spend more time with Jaune, helping with homework and later with his sword work.

When bedtime came around, Pyrrha wasn't sure what she was going to do. She had felt so calm and happy after sleeping in Jaune's bed, but she couldn't let herself get caught. She didn't want to think about what would happen if she were. So she told herself it was just a one-time thing. Which didn't change the fact that at 2 AM, she still couldn't sleep.

She looked at Jaune's bed, seemingly so inviting. Fighting with herself each step of the way, she once again approached his bed. This time he hadn't shifted enough to let her get in with him. She watched hopefully for a few minutes, but eventually had to return to her own bed for a restless night.

The next day did not go well for Pyrrha. She couldn't focus in class, could barely remember where to go after class, and could barely maintain a conversation. It got to the point where Jaune half carried her back after dinner and put her to bed. She fell asleep quickly after he tucked her in.

By sheer exhaustion, she managed to sleep the whole night, but still wasn't up to 100% the next day. Jaune kept a concerned eye on her throughout the day, asking her consistently if she was doing alright. She just gave a tired smile and said she was fine, just needed more rest.

She went to bed early that night, hoping that she could sleep through and not feel the need to invade Jaune's bed. But again, she awoke and felt the urge to feel that rest, that comfort, that escape from her own mind as the rhythm of his breathing on her neck soothed her into rest. Night after night this continued, and she felt like she slept worse now than she did before.

The deprivation started to get to her. Her grades were slipping, her combat performance was getting sloppy, and she was losing track of large gaps of time. Her professors took her aside, trying to see what was wrong, but she just said she was having a rough time and was sorting it out. Jaune was constantly worried about her, which would have made her happy if she had any idea what was going on around her. She was breaking down, and eventually, she broke.

She found herself standing silently near Jaune's bed, waiting for him to shift enough for her to get in. She didn't know how long she was standing there, but eventually her patience was rewarded with a gentle mumble and shift that let her get in. Just as before, Jaune put his arm over her and she almost immediately fell asleep.

Pyrrha was exhausted enough to sleep through a bomb, but by some miracle Jaune shifted in his sleep, enough that she woke up and managed to get herself together and slip out before the others woke. She thanked Dust for that.

She tried to stay away, to learn to sleep without needing his presence, but inevitably every couple of days she would break and sneak into his embrace. She fell into a routine. Every night she couldn't sleep, she'd wait until he moved, slip in quietly, and leave before the others woke up. It got to the point where Jaune started to just automatically sleep at the edge of his bed. She felt bad that she was doing this without his knowledge or consent, but she needed that sleep and comfort. She was too afraid to ask him out, of the possible rejection and ruining everything. She was too afraid of losing the solution she found.

One particular night, she heard Jaune shift in bed. She wasn't in his bed on this night, but she was so attuned to his sleep habits that she knew something was off. He was tossing and turning, and eventually he got up and threw on a jacket, leaving the room. Pyrrha didn't know if she should try to follow him and reveal she had somehow woken up right when he got up, or to stay quiet and pretend she didn't notice. She wanted to know what was wrong, to help him, but she was afraid of leaving clues that would lead back to her sleeping habit. So she tried to ignore her worry, and sleep. She didn't end up sleeping until she heard him come back in, a couple hours later.

The next morning found two tired members of JNPR trying to manage coffee and getting dressed while Ren and Nora watched them barely manage their morning routine.

"So what kept you two up last night?" Ren asked, not intending to be suggestive.

"Ooh, yeah what did you two do last night? Did you go run around the rooftops?" Nora asked. "It's a lot of fun, but if someone notices, you have to outrun them, which can be more fun, but also scary bec–"

"Nora." Ren said, stopping her runaway story. "They're tired, leave them be."

"Oop, sorry Jaune, sorry Pyrrha!" Nora said brightly.

Jaune and Pyrrha were taking longer than normal, so Ren and Nora left, promising to save them spots at breakfast.

They spent a few minutes in silence gathering their things before Pyrrha broke the silence.

"So what kept you up last night?" Pyrrha asked as they managed to look presentable.

"Oh, you know, just some thinking," Jaune replied evasively.

"Jaune, you know if something is bothering you, you can talk to me." Pyrrha said sincerely.

"It's really okay Pyrrha, it was just a sleepless night. You had those a lot before, remember?" Jaune said.

Pyrrha realized her mistake. She had refused to tell him what initially kept her up, and now Jaune was just taking her lead. "Jaune, I–"

"Oh crap, we're nearly late, let's go!" Jaune said, interrupting her.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the room with him. Mentally paralyzed by the contact, she barely remembered the run to their first class, just a mixture of bliss and confusion. __Was he just holding my hand to get me going as a friend? Or did he want to hold her hand becau–__

"Where were you guys at breakfast, you missed pancakes!" Nora said, obliviously cutting through Pyrrha's thoughts.

Jaune mentioned he couldn't find his textbooks as Port called everyone's attention to the front of the class.

Port taught his class the same way he always did. With excessively long anecdotes. Most people only paid minimal attention to his stories, using the time to catch up on homework or reading. Pyrrha normally would have paid attention, but Jaune was acting a little strange. Normally he'd have a vacant look in his eyes as they tracked Port's pacing, but this time he stared pensively at his desk, lost somewhere in his thoughts.

Pyrrha tried not to worry about it and catch up on her work for Oobleck's class, but she still stole glances at him from time to time, trying to read his expression. Anger? Frustration? Sadness? She couldn't figure it out. Another thought struck, making her panic. _What if he figured out what I've been doing? He's just too nice to come out and say it, but is he trying to avoid it happening more by leaving at night? _She was so caught up in her thoughts that she started when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Pyrrha?" Jaune asked, concerned. "Class has been over for a minute, are you okay?"

"Oh! Oh sorry, I was just...thinking about Oobleck's assignment," she said, packing her things up in a hurry.

"Really? It looked like you were already done," Jaune pointed as she gathered up the last of her papers.

"Oh, yes..." she said vaguely trailing off. "Let's not be late for the next class!"

"O...kay...?" Jaune said as Pyrrha started walking. He shook his head, still confused.

Pyrrha's thoughts raced as her feet found the path to her next class. _He looked so caught up with his own thoughts, but he still noticed me stuck in mine? Does that mean his thoughts were about me? Does he know? Oh no, how do I explain myself? How often did he notice? Was it just once? Maybe I can just pretend I took the wrong bed and was too tired to notice until morning. Wait, maybe he didn't notice, maybe this has nothing to do with me. Maybe he just noticed me because I was sitting there lost and he was just looking after me like a good leader. _

Pyrrha managed to slow her racing thoughts enough to get through the rest of her classes without incident, but once she had gone to bed and had nothing else to occupy her focus they came back just as bad as before. She couldn't figure out a solution, and Jaune wasn't going to just tell her. So she didn't have much choice but to just wait and see. That realization calmed her down some, but still added to the list of things that kept her from sleeping.

The hours slowly dragged by as Pyrrha tried to fight the urge to go to Jaune. If he was having trouble sleeping, he would be sure to notice if she tried to join him. So she continued to stare at the ceiling when she heard Jaune quietly rolled his sheets back. She listened as he threw on his jacket and opened the door. She waited until the door snapped shut before she rolled out of bed, grabbed her own jacket and followed him out the door.

AN: Sorry about the cliffhanger-y ending, but I've been having trouble structuring the next part. If there's a lot of interest, I'll try to polish the next part better.


End file.
